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October 26, 2008

Feelin’ a little love

We never stop looking for ways to make Photoshop better, but every so often it’s nice to take a deep breath and reflect on how far the app has come. Here are some nice props I’ve seen in the last few days about CS4:

On CreativePro.com Ben Long says, “This is what a must-have upgrade looks like:

Talking about the 64-bit version of CS4, customer Jeff Holmes writes, “This is the product of the century. The only thing I’m waiting for is the plugins to catch up. I do the plugin work in the 32-bit version and design work in 64-bit, but it’s worth the hassle. In my opinion this release is worth far more than it costs. Photoshop on steroids. It helps to have as much hardware as you can afford, too, but my jaw is still hanging after a week of playing.” [Via Adam Jerugim]

Scott Kelby reports from Photo Plus East that ”Adobe’s booth was a madhouse. Lots of buzz around Lightroom 2 and CS4, with back-to-back sessions going all day. The crowd was 10 deep.”

Writing for MacWorld, Lesa Snider King says, “Bridge got a makeover, a speed boost, and a new Review Mode that’ll make photographers squeal with joy… With the workspace overhaul and speed increase, Bridge is a real joy to use.” (Here’s a complete list, with video demo, of what’s new in Bridge CS4.)

Comments

Koda — 9:19 AM on October 26, 2008

hello! it’s really nice to see so many improvements over this nice program suite!
However i must admit that i’m not really content with the cs4 version released for the mac operating systems
basically there are three points which are connected with each other
– lacking of 64bit support
– no cocoa based framework yet
– impossibility to install on a case sensitive filesystem
the 64bit issue and cocoa framwork are binded and when either will be fixed, the other will be too! However since there’s a need for major rewrital of the creative suite, i would duly suggest you correct the case sensitivity issue! i know your position on the matter, but i would take advantage of the next cocoa transition to apply the 65 files renaming necessary to have cs run on a case sensitive fs!
having said that, i really appreciate the heavy work put for releasing this suite and i’m sure that adobe will want to tak of loyal customers who happen to have a slightly different filesystem configuration.

keith — 10:19 AM on October 26, 2008

A number of reviewers have chimed in that this is the version to have. Interesting to see what features they base their findings on. Some base it on just one feature alone, while others have a list.

Kent C. — 1:46 PM on October 26, 2008

Well deserved too. While I’m having some wacom driver problems that have a workaround, I’m enjoying the new gpu driven interface features. At first notice, it was ‘hmm, that’s nice’… now, it’s Wow! this makes working so much easier. Thanks John.[Cool—thanks, Kent. –J.]

new features are great, but the biggest “features” for me are better performance, and better integration with other apps.
if a new version of any software saves me half an hour every day, its worth a lot!

Ann Shelbourne — 7:31 AM on October 27, 2008

Brilliant work by the entire Creative Suite team.
CS4 is definitely the best version yet — and that is not just Photoshop but right across the complete Design Suite.
CS4 is the MUST HAVE upgrade!

Photoshop is one of the BEST Graphicprogams in the world.
Keep up the Good Work Guys.

Dave M — 9:37 AM on October 28, 2008

“I’m enjoying the new gpu driven interface features. At first notice, it was ‘hmm, that’s nice’… now, it’s Wow! this makes working so much easier.”
I’d like to second this. When I first launched and got the pop-up suggesting I check my manufacturer for updated rivers, I just clicked through to get out of it and things worked but honestly, I wasn’t over impressed. On the fifth, I got a message that there’d been a problem with the display control and the graphics card support was turned off and I got to use CS4 without it. All I can say is that it’s amazing how quickly I got used to having that.
BTW, a quick trip to ATI’s site and a driver download and I was back in business! That’s what I get for not following the directions, right? ;-)
I do have a question though – If I’m choosing between a faster GPU with 256 megs or one that’s a little slower with 512, which will work with Photoshop better?
Anyway, great work![Cool, thanks. I hope to post more info about GPU support any day now–for real! –J.]

I know I’ve been bitching a lot here, but kudos for the best upgrade yet. You have really managed to impress me![Cool! –J.]
The application frame was left off by default on my install and I have yet to turn it on.
The UI is much slicker and feels more Mac-like than ever believe it or not!
Content Aware Scaling is the best new feature since the healing brush (for Photoshop)!
Illustrator has all my pet peeves solved (transparent gradients, type on a path typography, bleeds, multiple artboards, expand outlines)!
Two minor things I’ve noticed:
Why the hell is the button layout in the Save for Web and Devices dialog:
[Save] [Cancel] [Done]?
Save should ALWAYS be in the bottom right corner and be the default. Now SteerMouse snaps my cursor to Done and lots of agonising “I thought I saved that file” ensues. Please get someone to sort this out in a point upgrade.
The second is more puzzling. A 30MB Illustrator file with a 23.5MB embedded TIFF takes more than five minutes to save and looks like it’s hanging (beachballing) through some of the process. In this day and age that should simply not happen (on a Mac Pro with a 10K Raptor).[I’ll pass along that feedback to the AI team. You’re of course right that saving should be nowhere near that slow. –J.]
Anyway, I am super pleased with this new upgrade and hope you’ll forgive my earlier bitching :D[Heh–really glad to hear it, esp. now that you’ve gotten to try the tools hands-on. –Thx, J.]

e james — 6:44 AM on October 30, 2008

Then there is this:http://arstechnica.com/reviews/apps/adobe-cs4-review.ars/2[So, was your goal here to find anything imperfect and bring that to light? –J.]
The tabbed issues they raise are a valid issue and hopefully will be looked at soon?[The application is always a work in progress, and we’re constantly working to polish it. This is the first incarnation of tabs in an Adobe app, and in case it wasn’t clear to you from the Ars piece, *you don’t have to use them*. Go into prefs, flip one switch, and you’re done. –J.]
Also, charging mac users the same upgrade price for a 32 bit program while windows users get 64 bit system does not seem right.[Do you think Windows users should get a discount because they don’t get 16-bit printing or gestures support? –J.]

james — 2:13 PM on November 01, 2008

Sorry. It is perfect and should never be critiqued.[Who said that? But maybe you’re a “glass 3% empty” kind of guy. (Hard to know *who* you are, given the fake email address.) Simply pulling one perceived negative–one connected to an optional feature–out of an otherwise positive review seems like a drive-by.For the record, we welcome and appreciate Dave G.’s feedback, as we did throughout the development cycle. –J.]

ejames — 3:35 PM on November 01, 2008

So now it is about one of your customers being a “glass 3% empty” kind of person (not sure exactly what that means but if it means that I have higher standards than the product manager for software that costs a lot of money I will take it as a compliment) instead of the software. And referencing an incredible act of violence “drive by” for pointing out a software problem is just uncalled for on your part. Further, the issue is not a perceived negative – it actually does exist and should be improved.[My point is that you’re not adding value by simply saying, “Oh, were you trying to feel good about what you’d just done? Here, let me find a way to rain on your parade!” Dave (the reviewer) engaged in a useful dialog with the product development team, and his suggestions helped make things better. You, on the other hand, seem more interested in accentuating the negative, not providing any kind of constructive criticism. Cf. Teddy Roosevelt’s response to that kind of thing.Incidentally–and this is the last bit of time I’m going to spend addressing your comments (esp. as I can’t speak to you directly, what with the continued phony name/address)–I started the post by saying, “We never stop looking for ways to make Photoshop better.” I defer to no one in my frustration at not being able to make everything perfect, all at once. That doesn’t mean we won’t keep working like crazy to make things better. –J.]